March 7, 2013
by Tiffany
0 comments

If you’re a professional looking to build an online portfolio or website, then you need your domain name to say exactly what you do, who you are, or what profession you’re in, while being SEO friendly, short, and memorable. If you’ve searched recently for your fantasy domain name in the .COM world, you know almost every relevant professional term domain name is either taken or priced too high. Before you start thinking up crazy solutions like weird misspellings (MadLawyerz.com?), nonsensical words (now you understand where “Google” came from), and strange actions (NinjaChopWebDesign.com), consider a new top level domain space with more availability. Consider .PW.

People use handheld devices to find professional services more than ever, and professional websites help establish credibility and trust online, where most people prefer to shop. As a professional, you can’t afford to lose any more time without an established and easy-to-find online presence. Luckily, .PW offers an affordable and available option you can take advantage of right now, before all the good names get snapped up.

What is .PW?

.PW is available right now, during the landrush period of its launch, when only a select number of domain registrars will be taking applications. Names, generic terms, industry-specific phrases – all of these domain types are available for less.

Why get a .PW now? Why can’t I wait?

• Exclusive landrush availability. The .PW landrush period only lasts through March 18, when registration costs will rise, and certain premium domains only available during landrush (see complete list here) will no longer be available.
• Affordable premium domain costs. Landrush fees are only $59, and include two years of registration. After landrush, the cost of registration goes up.
• Short and memorable domain names. Right now, there’s a lot of open space in the .PW world. Make sure you get your spot, with a domain name that says exactly what you need it to, without having to say too much.
• Domain name flexibility and Internationalized Domain Names. Two character ASCII, and one character international domain names in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are available, as well as IDNs in multiple other languages.
• Security. UDRP, trademark friendly, and DNSSEC, etc. Zero tolerance for abuse.

What is "Landrush"?

Landrush is the second launch period of a TLD (top level domain). Landrush always follows the Sunrise period.

• During Sunrise, only trademark owners can register domains, while during landrush, anyone can register domains.
• The landrush period is usually a month-long, during which domain registrars, like us, offer low prices to encourage fast growth.
• After landrush, prices go up, registering domain names become more competitive, and the extension enters normal registration.

The Advantages of .PW:

• .PW is competitively priced, and backed by big name registrars, meaning it’s sure to be the next big thing in domains, and in a year of new gTLDs, this is the first one available.
• Anyone can register a .PW domain, and even though .PW is meant as a space for individuals and businesses to build an online presence, the registration is completely open and unrestricted to allow for easier registration and a streamlined process.

To take advantage of the landrush period, search for available names with our .PW landrush search tool. Thousands of personal names, business terms, and professional titles are still available. And because you’ll be registering during landrush, you’ll have a chance to apply for these names:*

• Webhosts.pw
• Guitars.pw
• Socialmedia.pw
• Hired.pw
• Jerry.pw

*Available at the time this blog posted.

March 5, 2013
by Jared
0 comments

We're happy to announce that name.com will be at South by Southwest in Austin, TX. It's a big event. It's so big that if you're not prepared your trip could explode into an all-out cluster where you end up like Waldo in one of those crowded pictures but drunk and wondering where your shoes are. We're certain that at some point during the festival you will have earned some shoeless inebriation, but first experience and wisdom of veteran #SXSW attendees who have shared Tips, Tricks and Otherwise Sanity Saving Advice!

Oh, and because it's such an awesome time with so many beautiful people, we might have gone to extremes.

You don't have to do that last part. That was Hell. Really, you ladies do that to your...really?

Here's an extended list of #SXSW advice, tips and tricks. Let's begin with the first and most important:

1. GET YOUR CREDENTIALS EARLY. Everyone who is anyone will be lining up on Friday morning (March 8th) to get registered. We've heard the line can take up to five hours. This advice came from about everyone we talked to, but was stressed most vociferously by Austin filmmaker Todd Calvert, and author CC Chapman.

And now to Linda Koritkoski from .CO. She's the marketing juggernaut that has helped bring .CO to the forefront of startup success. To crack into the .COM/NETs of the world, you've got to do lots of pimping...especially at big, crazy gatherings like #SXSW. Here's her helpful list:

2. Bring extra battery packs for phones / laptops / anything electric. Don't expect to find an outlet.

3. WiFi likely will be slow. Cell service will drop. Too many digital geeks all in the same place forces us all to live analog for a little while. Don't freak out. It'll be ok. Just go grab a beer and TALK to someone instead.

4. Torchy's Tacos. I don't need to say anything else.

5. Keep your eyes open, the best things that happen are random. You can't plan SXSW -- and if you try, you are doing it wrong!

And finally we bring you one of our favorite blog doctors. Erik Wolf is to your business what Kim Kardashian is to really bad reality TV--he makes people care about what you're doing. To do this he's a well-traveled soul who shares with you 10 more #SXSW tips and tricks:

6. Start training your liver ASAP. This is basically spring break except this time you're not broke (and, in all likelihood carrying legit identification). Cocktails are almost as ubiquitous as iPhones at SXSW. Almost.

7. Food trucks are awesome and Austin is full of them. Enjoy.

8. You won't get to be the mayor of anything on foursquare. It may not even be worth trying.

9. My favorite non-conference event was 20x2. This was a really fun time. They line up 20 speakers who present for 2 minutes each all in response to the same question. The results are really fantastic. Info at 20x2.org

10. When you're at the conference, definitely go to some of the talks but when you want a break look for the blogger's lounges. These are great places to hang out and run into cool people. And every now and then you might manage to score some free food.

11. Assuming you're OK with drinking during the afternoon, a great place to grab a cocktail during SXSW is the lobby bar at the Hilton across from the conference center. You'll be surprised who stops by and who you might be able to have a beer with someone famous.

12. Never wait in line for a party. Register for the ones you really want to go to in advance and if you blow it, don't worry: the whole town is a party. You'll be able to find something else.

13. If you happen to run into someone super geek chic like Guy Kawasaki, he will totally take a picture with you. But don't blow it by looking dumb. You'll need to be more clutch than that.

14. If someone mistakes you for someone famous, just roll with it.

15. If you're interested in startups and emerging techie stuff, definitely check out the SXSW Accellerator. Basically you're watching startups pitch their businesses to a panel of seriously distinguished judges. And you get to hear the feedback. Better than business school, I swear.

OK, that's it for now. We'll see you at the Interactive part of the show March 7 - 13. 

March 1, 2013
by Jared
5 Comments

The impasse over the federal budget has brought up the quite awful word "sequestration," which sounds bodily and weird but is actually worse. It means that nondefense government programs will be cut by nine percent, and defense programs will be cut by 13 percent. Now that can't be good for anyone, so we thought we'd help however we can.

NOW THROUGH MIDNIGHT (MT) MARCH, 2 2013, GET 20% OFF ALL NEW COM/NET/CO/US/BIZ DOMAIN NAMES AND 20% OFF ALL NEW WEB HOSTING with the promo code SEQUESTER.

Here's more from Owen Borseth, our Vice President of Awesome.

March 1, 2013
by Jared
5 Comments

It is the endlessly repeating marvel that has been around almost as long as the Internet. It is the GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format, and it manages to capture brief movie magic with a minimal amount of memory. And now it is also this month's domain name promo code!

Use GIF for $10.25 Registration and Renewal on COM/NET domain names. 

Thank you for using name.com. We're very happy you're here.

February 26, 2013
by Tiffany
0 comments

Unless you're some kind of crazy nut, who loves spending money when you don't need to, the prospect of new gTLDs might be worrying you. After all, it's not possible for the average business owner to register a brand extension, and now that almost two thousand applications are finishing evaluation, there's more concern about how to protect your brand than ever. Because nTLD awareness is ever-increasing, there's added media attention, a lot of misinformation about how you as a trademark owner can protect your brand, and a lot of panic concerning the amount of money it will cost you.

One of the most talked about topics in trademark protection is defensive registration, or registering your brand, and the close misspellings of your brand, with nTLD registries to ensure that your Internet space is not obtained by another individual or company, and to protect the uniqueness of your mark.

While defensive registration is probably already a part of your protection strategy (if you've registered your trademark with more than one extension, like .com and .net), unilateral defensive registration in the case of nTLDs will be too costly for the majority of business owners, particularly small business owners. Registering your trademark and its common misspellings with well over 1,000 registries is a daunting proposal. Luckily, we don’t think it’s necessary or even possible to defensively register your brand for every extension. Here are some simple steps to take, before and after new extensions launch, to effectively protect your trademark while saving your bottom line.

1. Read the ICANN guidebook. It’s not exactly a page-turner, but the ICANN guidebook is a must-read for any business owner concerned with protecting brands and trademarks in the next few years. The guidebook thoroughly explains many of the protections already in place for business owners, including sunrise periods, the Trademark Clearinghouse, and the Uniform Rapid Suspension System. We talk about these options a lot more, here, but the bottom line is that before you consider defensive registration, you should become familiar with the more affordable protections in place. One of ICANN’s main goals is to block cyber-squatting and reduce brand infringements, so use the measures they put in place to your advantage.
2.  Scope out the nTLD territory. Using an online list of applications, like the one on the ICANN website, or the list on our site (which is organized by specialty), become familiar with the proposed gTLDs. Know that many of the applications are for brand gTLDs, community gTLDs, or geographic gTLDs, and these registries will operate as closed registries, available only to those who are in the community of the registrar. Many other applications for generic term extensions are also proposed closed registries, meaning that you wouldn’t be able to register for a domain in that registry, even if you wanted to. Also note that any closely related gTLDs, like .house and .houses, or .law and .lawyer, will probably not coexist, but rather one entity will be given the rights to run the registry for one of the proposed extensions. By knocking out the nTLDs that don’t relate to you, 1,917 applications becomes a much more manageable number and you can focus on your market.
3. Figure out which nTLDs are in your marketable area. Once you’ve started to weed out the extensions you have no control over, start taking a look at which extensions interest you, as well as which extensions relate directly to your market. Assuming your brand is not a wide-ranging unique brand name, like Kleenex, then you’ll only have to worry about registration in the domains that matter directly to you – the extensions you’d probably look into registering, anyway. If you own a shoe business, for example, .shoe, .shop, and .shopping might be of interest to you. Using a watcher, like the one we offer, will allow you to follow the application process of that extension, and know when sunrise opens, so you can register your trademark before anyone else or watch registrations to make sure your brand is safe.
4. Use the Trademark Clearinghouse. We’ve said it before, but registering your trademark in the Trademark Clearinghouse is cost-effective, and makes good use of the defensive strategies ICANN is building to protect you. For $150 a registration, you can register your trademark in the TMCH, and all registries will have to check their new registrations against the TMCH database, to ensure your rights aren't infringed upon. Both you and the potential domain registrant will receive a notification when another person or company tries to register a string too similar to your trademark.
5. Watch free domain registrations very closely. Many market experts agree that while there is need to be concerned about trademark protection, the .xxx delegation process has shown that because new gTLDs are priced a bit higher, cyber-squatting is often less profitable. For example, with the launch of .xxx, there have been a relatively small amount of disputes. However, if extension go up for grabs, like Google has mentioned doing with a few of their extensions (offering .free for free), then cyber-squatting has a better chance of occurring, since the profit margin is higher. Tracking free nTLDs, and registering your trademark first, may be an important and easy first step in protecting yourself at a later date.

So don’t break out your pocketbook just yet – the most important first step in protecting your brand is to educate yourself on the process, watch the nTLDs that matter most to your market space, use the defensive mechanisms put in place for you, and only register what you need to. Defensively registering in all domain spaces is not only costly, but unnecessary.

To view a list of the proposed extensions, organized by specialty, check out our nTLD list here. To watch specific nTLDs, and be notified of any changes in the application process, sign up for our watcher. It’s a free service that allows you to enter only the nTLDs you’d like to watch and keep updated on them.